The Tennessee star., 1887-11-25
MILLIONS or TREASURE.
Tho Place Through which Tons Of Silver
md Gold Pass Every Year.


Tho Place Through Which Tons Of Silver
and Gold Pass Every Year.
One OF the most unpretentious bulldlng'
on Wall street, says the New York com
n,crcidl Adrertiael, Is the United states
assay office, which stands IN the snauo"
or rather under the wing of the sup-treas
ury. It's plain; old-fashioned stone from
gives no token of the hoard OF SOLID Weai1n
within. One of the most unassumlng and
affabIe gentlemen on Wall street IS An
drew J. Mason, the superintendent OF the
ASSAY Office. One would hardly think 70
i see him that more gold and silver passes
through his hands each year than IS nan
dled ha anv other man in the United
states. or for that matter in the world.
The assay Office is the funnel through
which the precious metals of the country
mss befora they enter the commercial
world. From every quarter OF the United
States daily shipments are received OF
gold, silver and the baser metals that
cling so tenaciously to the more valuable
products, and are here melted, separated,
refined and marked with the all-im.
portant stamp of the United States.
"Nearly all of the gold sent here from
foreign countries" sa d Mr.. Mason, "comes
10 this Office Much of it comes to us di.
rect from the steamers even before it goes
into the hands of consignees. All of this
gold is mefted and cast into bars, except
Spanish and Mexican doubloons and
American coins, only the light weight
pieces of which find their way into the
melting crucibies."
"Do you make no exceptions either Of
English bars or bars marked with your
/ own stamps"
Il.
bars, together with all foreign coins, are
sabject to the Same treatment, first as.
saved and then cast into new bars and
stamped to indicate their fneness and
value"
"Why do you resmelt American bars
that already bear the assayer's stamp?v
Because we believe it to be the safer
course to pursue. 1t obviates any chance
of fraud or deception, aud foreign mer-
chants are better satisfied when they know
that the same bar is never reissued from
this office.n
"Do other Governments rcsn.alt our bars
niso?"
"Not always. If they did we should not
receive SO many of our own issue back.
England resmelts coed many,I but in
France they generally accept them as
they are"
"Bat is not tho cost of resmelting and
the loss consequent upon the operation
heavy"
ION the contrary, it is very slight The
cost for resmeling, testing and casting
into new standard bars is only one-tenth
of one per cent. an ounce, while the loss is
in6nitesimal."
While Superintendent, Mason was talk
ing heavy drag backed up to the door of
the assay office and commenced to unload
great silver bricks and little, heavy, iron
bound boxes containing gotd. The re-
porter followed the boxes into the receiv-
ing room, where they were opened after
great deal of trouble. The contents con-
sisted of gold bars, old gold coin and, in
onefinstance, tin box Of gold dust. All
of this precious material was taken out
and weighed on scales so delicately bal
anced that grain of dust would disturb
the balance. Each lot was dumped into a
separate box to await it's turn for the test
by fire as to its purity before it again did
duty as measure of value.